Owls?

I live in South Africa and have chickens in my backyard (quater of an acre in size)
I have 2 roosters and 9 hens. They are mixed breeds of bantam chickens.
They sleep in a tree. (Karee tree)
This evening they were going frantic. When I went out I saw a owl on the telephone pole about 50meters from them. It looked like a spotted eagle owl or an cape eagle owl. Seeing that it was dusk I could only see it was large and had those ears( not like a barn owl which is smaller.)
Can anyone tell me if owls will eat my chickens?
I feel so guilty not to have a coop for them. We never catch them and therefore don't handle them.
Maybe I should try and put chicken wire over the branches which is quite high.
Maria

Over here we have the Great Horned Owl which is similar in size to your owls, and they are capable of killing geese and peafowl so chickens are easy prey for them. It is an assumption on my part, but I think that the two owls that you mentioned represent a danger to your roosters. The barn owl is your friend. Best rodent control a farm can have.

great horned owls are much more aggressive then spotted eagle owls i think you are going to be okay if ur chickens are large

euro eagle owls and the african giant eagle owls are the ones with a strong fondness for big chickens the spotted should be ok they are not that into killing large birds the size of standard chickens more into mice and rats and smaller creatures. WHile great horned owls and other species of eagle owls will take anything big small strong weak. They are true tigers of the sky. But the also take out predators like minks, raccoons, and skunks and love to eat hawks and falcons and even foxes. SO they might cause more good then harm

YES owls will eat your chickens, ducks, and geese one by one, each night until that hunting ground is cleaned out. You know they can nab a full grown rabbit and fly off with it, and until you see them up close you don't realize what ferocious predatorss they are. The wings are bult for lift, big and round and the claws ate huge and knarley, they can fly right into a tree where your chickens are sleeping. My husband said they hunt with more of a thermal image so they can really see into a tree...If you can, try to provide some sort of cover, even cover the tree with camoflage netting if there is no other way...good luck to you.